In-Flight Magazines, Career Conferences and an MSGL Success Story

In 2009 I was on a Delta Airlines flight back to the Midwest. During the flight I quickly flipped through Delta’s Sky Magazine and lo and behold, I came across an advertisement for the MS in Global Leadership (MSGL) program at my alma mater, the University of San Diego. This was the first time I had ever heard of our unique program. At the time, I didn’t think I would eventually enroll in the program and I certainly didn’t think I would end up joining the MSGL staff as the Manager of Marketing and Recruitment. The advertisement was incredibly well done and one could argue, was successful in yielding at least one student, myself.

Sean Kelley (MSGL ’04) featured in Delta’s Sky Magazine in 2009.

The advertisement, which was included in a special “Distance Learning” section of the magazine, profiled one of our Alums, Sean Kelley (’04). Sean was a prior Naval Submarine Logistics Officer, Supply Chain Operations Manager at Starbucks, Product Operations Manager at Microsoft and today he remains at Microsoft as the Director of Staffing. In the advertisement, Sean offers his praise of the program and discusses what he has been able to do with the degree. The ad states that, “[distance] learning was a big selling point for Kelley, but the program’s appeal went far beyond that. The ‘remote-team’ approach was similar to working in a global corporation. He completed projects from the Seattle area with a couple in Japan, a guy in Italy and a guy in Northern California. Sean explained that “it was validating for someone like me who has lived all over the world.” He was successful in leveraging his previous professional experience in combination with his MSGL degree. “In the final month of completing the degree, I met with the head of Microsoft Diversity and she opened the door to a job for me,” he says. A lateral move, he went from Director of Operations to Director of Diversity. Two years later, he leveraged his education even further when he took the the reigns of Microsoft’s international diversity strategy. “I was able to put my deep studies to work around the world,” Kelley says. “I needed the degree to open the door, which it completely did.”

Fast forward four years from that issue of Delta Sky Magazine to this last Friday at the Service Academy Career Conference (SACC) here in San Diego. Both the MBA and MSGL Program were participating in the SACC Job Fair – I was of course representing the MSGL Program. Once we were setup at our table I noticed we were immediately across from the folks at Microsoft. Long story short, there was Sean Kelley representing the Microsoft Corporation. At this point, I had only seen Sean in the Delta Sky Advertisement. I had never met him. As the Marketing Manager, I have seen that advertisement countless times and I always think back to that flight and how his story, his experience in the Program and his success has impacted my professional trajectory.

At SACC San Diego, there were a handful of MSGL Alums and current students who were looking to find a good fit at one of the military friendly companies that were on exhibit. I was pleased to find one of our Alums, Brian Storjohann (MSGL ’12), having a lengthy conversation with Sean. Sean was once in Brian’s shoes as a transitioning Naval Officer and there is nothing more valuable to our transitioning military folks than an established and impressive network of professionals who have ‘been there and done that’. Participating “military-friendly” companies include: Amazon, Booz Allen Hamilton, Boston Scientific, Cardinal Health, Chick-fil-A, the CIA, Coca-Cola, Dell, Inc., Deloitte, Edward Jones, Facebook, the FBI, FDIC, General Electric, Goldman Sachs, HP, Intel, L-3 Communications, Life Technologies, Lockheed Martin, Macy’s, McKinsey & Company, Microsoft, Northwestern Mutual, Philips, Procter & Gamble, Sears Holdings, Shell Oil Company, Target, The Clorox Company, The Hershey Company, U.S. Secret Service, UTC Aerospace Systems, Walmart and many other incredible companies and academic programs.

MSGL is going to be participating in all of the SACC events in 2014. We’ll be in Savannah, Georgia (March 6-7), Washington D.C. (May 29-30), San Diego (August 21-22) and San Antonio, Texas (November 20-21). If you graduated from one of the Service Academies and you are looking to make a transition, either from Active Duty to civilian or from another company, you need to be at one of these events. If you do attend, please stop by our table and say hello. You never know who you might meet.

For more information regarding the MSGL Program, SACC, USD/SBA Career Services, the MSGL Network or anything else related to the MS in Global Leadership (MSGL) Program, please feel free to contact me (Scott Handley) at handley@sandiego.edu.